Hog's Breath Cafe
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Hog's Breath Cafe (also known as Hog's Australia's Steakhouse from 2016 to 2020) is an Australian and international
restaurant chain A chain store or retail chain is a retail outlet in which several locations share a brand, central management and standardized business practices. They have come to dominate many retail markets, dining markets, and service categories in many pa ...
and franchise of
steakhouse A steakhouse, steak house, or chophouse is a restaurant that specializes in steaks and chops. Modern steakhouses may also carry other cuts of meat including poultry, roast prime rib, and veal, as well as fish and other seafood. History Choph ...
restaurants. The restaurant purveys
prime rib A standing rib roast, also known as prime rib, is a cut of beef from the primal rib, one of the primal cuts of beef. While the entire rib section comprises ribs six through 12, a standing rib roast may contain anywhere from two to seven ribs. I ...
as its
signature dish A signature dish is a recipe that identifies an individual chef or restaurant. Ideally it should be unique and allow an informed gastronome to name the chef in a blind tasting. It can be thought of as the culinary equivalent of an artist finding ...
, which is slow-roasted for 18 hours.


History

The first restaurant was opened in July 1989 at
Airlie Beach Airlie Beach is a coastal locality and resort town in the Whitsunday Region of Queensland, Australia. In the , Airlie Beach had a population of 1,312 people. Geography Airlie Beach is one of many departure points for the Great Barrier Reef. ...
, Queensland by Don Algie. In November the following year, a second store was opened in
Mooloolaba Mooloolaba is a coastal suburb of Maroochydore in the Sunshine Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. It is located north of the state capital, Brisbane, and is part of the Maroochydore urban centre. In the , Mooloolaba had a population of 8, ...
. Additional locations quickly followed with stores opening in
Townsville The City of Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 201,313 as of 2024, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland and Northern Australia (specifically, the parts of Australia north of ...
,
Cairns Cairns (; ) is a city in the Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. In the , Cairns had a population of 153,181 people. The city was founded in 1876 and named after William Cairns, Sir W ...
and interstate Darwin. By December 2011, there were 69 outlets operating in Australia, three outlets in New Zealand, two outlets in Thailand and one in Singapore. Hog's Breath also controlled the licensing and use of the Jamaica Joe's trademark in Australia and overseas, and planned on further expansion in other Asian countries as well as the UK, Europe and North America. Its first outlet in the Philippines opened in 2013. A restaurant also operates at Vision City Shopping Centre in
Port Moresby (; Tok Pisin: ''Pot Mosbi''), also referred to as Pom City or simply Moresby, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea. It is one of the largest cities in the southwestern Pacific (along with Jayapura) outside of Australia and New ...
,
Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...
. Hog's Breath Cafe celebrated 35 years in business in July 2024. However, by the late 2010s the company's fortunes had changed for the worse, with restaurant closures resulting in 47 outlets in Australia remaining as of March 2021, down from a peak of 83. The company had blamed a downturn in the restaurant sector and changing dining habits for the store closures but a number of franchisees criticised the company for a lack of support and alleged mismanagement of the business. A short-lived rebrand to Hog's Australia's Steakhouse in 2016 was also not well received by franchisees and customers. The company also tried to establish a number of spin-off businesses including Hogs Express, Funky Mexican Cantina, a Hog's
food truck A food truck is a large motorized vehicle (such as a van or multi-stop truck) or trailer equipped to store, transport, cook, prepare, serve and/or sell food. Some food trucks, such as ice cream trucks, sell frozen or prepackaged food, but m ...
and Bar Nineteen89, which were all unsuccessful. As part of a touted rebuild of the brand Don Algie returned to the business in November 2020. The last South Australian franchise closed in January 2024, from a peak of five restaurants. As of April 2025, 22 Outlets remain within New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, Western Australia and Tasmania. In July 2024, CEO Steven Spurgin announced that the company was looking to rebuild its restaurant footprint, and has plans to open another 20 restaurants by 2029.


Controversies


Founding controversy

A bar and restaurant named Hog's Breath Saloon was established by Jerry Dorminy in
Fort Walton Beach Fort Walton Beach, often referred to by the initialism FWB, is a city in southern Okaloosa County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the population was 20,922, up from 19,507 in 2010. It is a principal city of the Crestviewâ ...
,
Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...
, in the
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in 1976. From the late 1980s, Dorminy has used the name "Hog's Breath Café" in relation to the restaurant part of his business. It has been alleged that in establishing the chain of Hog's Breath Cafe restaurants in Australia, Don Algie appropriated key elements of Dorminy's business including the business name, theming and logos/artwork. Jerry Dorminy's association with Don Algie began in 1985 when he employed Algie to organise and promote a series of yacht races in the United States. In mid-1986, Dorminy visited Algie in Australia, and during that visit Algie expressed interest in developing a bar and restaurant business in Australia. Dorminy subsequently asked Algie to register the business name Hog's Breath Saloon in
New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...
, in his (Dorminy's) name. Further discussions concerning the possibility of creating an operation in Australia were reported to have taken place in 1987 and 1988. Algie subsequently claimed that he then wrote to Dorminy, saying that he (Algie) intended to open a Hog's Breath restaurant in
Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...
. Dorminy later denied receipt of that letter, and asserted that he had repeatedly told Algie that "he would not be authorised" to operate his own Hog's Breath business in Australia. In July 1988, Algie applied on his own behalf to register the business names "Hog's Breath Saloon" and "Hog's Breath Cafe" in Queensland. Algie opened business as the Hog's Breath Cafe at Airlie Beach in July 1989, and in August 1989 he applied to register the first two Hog's Breath trademarks. In the legal dispute that ensued, Dorminy's primary argument was that Algie was not entitled to secure registration because the earlier relationship between himself and Algie gave rise to an obligation by Algie to act in his (Dorminy's) interest. For reasons set out in a detailed determination dated 30 June 1994, Helen Hardie, Assistant Registrar, declined the application by Dorminy to prevent Algie from registering five Hog's Breath trademarks. In 2006, American designer John Lamb commenced legal action against Hog's Breath in the Federal Court of
Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...
. Before Justice Robert French on 22 June 2007, Lamb claimed he owned copyright to a cartoon of a pig known as the "Wave Hog Work". He said he produced the pig in 1987 to promote the original Hog's Breath Saloon in Florida. Lamb alleged that, from 1996, companies controlled by a former worker at the Florida eatery had infringed his copyright in various ways including applying the pig logo to clothing related to the Hog's Breath Cafe chain in Australia. Hog's Breath subsequently agreed to pay Lamb $750,000, inclusive of Lamb's legal fees.


Other

In April 2014, a story on ''
A Current Affair ''A Current Affair'' may refer to: * ''A Current Affair'' (Australian TV program), 1971–present Australian current affairs program that airs on Nine Network * ''A Current Affair'' (American TV program), a 1986–1998 American television news ...
'' claimed that Hog's Breath had engaged lawyers Finn Roche to demand that a small industrial area takeaway on the NSW Central Coast called "Hoggy's Takeaway" cease and desist using the name Hoggy's in their business name and branding. The owner, Sam Hogg, chose the name because of his surname. He subsequently received support from the public, with more than 14,000 people signing a petition to demand that Hog's Breath Cafe retract their legal threats. Hog's Breath later applied for the trademark Hoggy's Takeaway. In 2016 the company was accused of underpaying workers.


See also

*
List of restaurant chains in Australia This is a list of notable restaurant chains in Australia. A restaurant chain is a set of related restaurants with the same name in many different locations that are either under shared corporate ownership (e.g., McDonald's in the U.S.) or franchi ...
*
List of steakhouses The following is an incomplete list of notable steakhouses. Chain restaurant steakhouses North America * Black Angus * Bonanza Steakhouse * Capa, Orlando, Florida * The Capital Grille * Charlie Brown's Steakhouse * Claim Jumper * D' La ...


References


External links

* {{Food chains in Australia Restaurant chains in Australia Steakhouses in Australia Companies based in Queensland Restaurant franchises Theme restaurants Restaurants established in 1989 Australian companies established in 1989 Culture of Queensland Queensland cuisine